Brahmi script

Main article: Brahmi script

One of the oldest Hindu Sanskrit[note 29] inscriptions, the broken pieces of this
early 1st-century BCE Hathibada Brahmi Inscription were discovered in Rajasthan. It
is a dedication to deities Vasudeva-Samkarshana (Krishna-Balarama) and mentions a
stone temple.[27][260]

The Brahmi script for writing Sanskrit is a "modified consonant-syllabic" script.

The graphic syllable is its basic unit, and this consists of a consonant with or
without diacritic modifications.[253] Since the vowel is an integral part of the
consonants, and given the efficiently compacted, fused consonant cluster morphology
for Sanskrit words and grammar, the Brahmi and its derivative writing systems
deploy ligatures, diacritics and relative positioning of the vowel to inform the
reader how the vowel is related to the consonant and how it is expected to be
pronounced for clarity.[253][261][note 30] This feature of Brahmi and its modern
Indic script derivatives makes it difficult to classify it under the main script
types used for the writing systems for most of the world's languages, namely
logographic, syllabic and alphabetic.[253]

The Brahmi script evolved into "a vast number of forms and derivatives", states
Richard Salomon, and in theory, Sanskrit "can be represented in virtually any of
the main Brahmi-based scripts and in practice it often is".[262] Sanskrit does not
have a native script. Being a phonetic language, it can be written in any precise
script that efficiently maps unique human sounds to unique symbols. From the
ancient times, it has been written in numerous regional scripts in South and
Southeast Asia. Most of these are descendants of the Brahmi script.[263] The
earliest datable varnamala Brahmi alphabet system, found in later Sanskrit texts,
is from the 2nd-century BCE, in the form of terracotta plaques found in Haryana. It
shows a "schoolboy's writing lessons", states Salomon.[264][265]